I've not done one myself, but I had a friend recently look into the issue. He had a very nice 1990 Honda minivan (wife's car), with 160K on it, but he was meticulous with it and other than mileage, it looked brand new. As an example of how good shape the van was in, last year the trans developed a leak between the cases; he pulled the trans, went through the whole thing himself as a DIY, replaced all the seals, O-rings, and gaskets. Well, few months ago his wife t-boned some 16-year old who decided to ignore traffic. The van was repairable body-wise, but the air bags had gone off. Based on the age and mileage the insurance company totaled it.

He was going to salvage it and have the body work fixed by a shop. But the airbag replacement was costly part of the repair, so he was going to do himself. The problem was, he found out that in our fine state of Virginia, that any repairs to a salvage-title vehicle have to be performed by a certified repair shop, so no DIY to save money on the repairs and make it worthwhile to him to fix the van. You should check into that if you are planning to do the repairs yourself.

I don't personally have experience salvaged cars, but still would tread with caution. I personally think salvaged cars would be a great buy if you personally are able to work on the car or identify significant problems, but definitely should avoid cars that have possible frame damage.

salvage cars are rarely repaired with safety in mind. Most salvage cars are repaired to look fine, however small things such as getting a perfect wheel alignment or body panel gaps to line up is nearly impossible.

If you do buy a salvage car, plan to drive it into the ground... Or expect to get $3-5k 6+ years from now.